Why Idaho Doesn't Have Mass Shootings Like the One in Maine

Idaho has seen its share of nasty crimes. Some criminals have used guns. However, the most recent infamous crime involved a knife. Mass casualty shootings are rare.

Can you imagine a guy walking into a bowling alley in Idaho and opening fire? We don’t ever want to see it. Maybe we don’t see it because the gunman knows he would leave in a bag. You walk in and point a gun here, and you’ll have twenty pointed at you! That’s the difference between red and blue states.

Maine is somewhat purple, but the Republicans from the Northeast and New England have traditionally been liberals. Susan Collins, Lincoln Chaffee, the Rockefellers. They’re not friendly when it comes to the Second Amendment.

I used to vacation in Maine. For the better part of a decade. I watched as it drifted left. I walked away from a job offer there. Over time, Boston liberals migrated north from Massachusetts and came to dominate the state. The conservative rural portions are sparsely populated.

A friend shared a chart with me a few weeks ago. I wish I could find it today. On a series of scores, Idaho is the friendliest state when it comes to gun rights. It’s called deterrence.

A few years ago, a state trooper told me that he operated under a rule whenever he stopped a driver or answered a call. “Everyone in Idaho is armed,” was his approach. I’m telling you, I know of no other place in the country that has a better claim to that statement.